Trump: China Stole Voter Data on 220 Million Americans
In an extraordinary 27-minute address to the nation last week about election security, President Trump announced the declassification of records exposing a shocking degree of Chinese interference in U.S. elections, a cover-up by the intelligence community, and a host of election network pitfalls that may have enabled the security breakdown.
Over a period of a few years, Trump said, “starting during the 2020 election cycle, the People’s Republic of China carried out what is believed to be the largest compromise of election data in history, resulting in China’s illicit acquisition of 220 million U.S. voter files.”
The Chinese obtained the data in different ways, he said. “Buying, stealing, and hacking.”
“That information includes names, addresses, phone numbers, political party preferences, and other sensitive data,” the president continued. “This data loss presents an unprecedented election security nightmare.”
“The intelligence even shows that China assigned a “data exploitation unit” specifically to this new project,” Trump noted.
President Kept in Dark on Chinese Election Meddling
The president shared documents that highlight the intelligence community’s deliberate withholding of critical information about China’s election interference from his daily briefings (PDBs), during his first term.
“Members of the deep state — in many cases in our intelligence agencies—worked to actively suppress and downplay information about the extent of China’s sinister election meddling, covering it up from both the president and the American people,” Trump said.
“One email among NSA analysts admitted that they had ‘deliberately massaged (softened) the PDB to withhold information regarding Chinese activities related to the election,’” Trump said, quoting from the email.
Another employee expressed astonishment at the concealment, writing, “The PDB isn’t going to tie [Chinese interference] to the election? Mind-boggling.” Another official inside the FBI wrote that she was “running a shadow government to keep intelligence about China’s election meddling from becoming known.”
The documents cited by the president are among 269 pages of newly released intelligence assessments, internal emails and investigative records which can be accessed on the whitehouse.gov website.
Electronic Networks Were Breached Within Hours
The explosive documents portray electronic tabulators and voter data systems riddled with vulnerabilities. They include reports by CISA (cybersecurity experts) exposing poor password security, outdated software, weak network protections and inadequate monitoring.
“The documents we are releasing prove that for many years, Americans were blatantly lied to about the security of our election infrastructure, including electronic voting machines and ballot counting systems,” the president said in his address. “They’re vulnerable, and they’re easily compromised, and people within our government knew that.”
“Tonight, we’re publishing a series of previously classified US Intelligence Community assessments and other reports proving that our government has long known these machines are extremely exposed to attack,” he emphasized.
One CISA report documents that investigators in numerous tests were able to breach election-related computer networks “within hours,” exposing the claim that the 2020 election was “the most secure election in American history” as ludicrous—a hollow political slogan.
Another CISA report in the declassified files noted that cybersecurity analysts “assess that Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea all have the technical ability to access or interfere with parts of U.S. election systems that are most vulnerable,” such as voter registration databases and electronic poll books.
Data allows foreign intelligence services to create highly customized messaging with the appearance of coming from fellow Americans. This kind of “micro-targeting” is far more effective than broad propaganda, experts say.
For example, foreign agents could target minority communities with different messages designed to suppress turnout or increase polarization. They could target suburban parents with education-slanted narratives tailored to their concerns, and religious communities with religious-themed messaging.
The CISA report noted that systems that tabulate votes, transmit vote totals, or display election results online could well be vulnerable to localized attacks. It would be difficult but not impossible to manipulate them on a large enough scale to theoretically change the outcome of a national election.
Burn Bags
Trump said administration officials discovered some of the confidential material he was releasing in “burn bags” that were supposed to be destroyed.
“The findings are stunning,” Trump charged, announcing that he was directing the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Justice Department, the FBI and the CIA to “investigate how and why such crucial information was hidden, to fire those involved in the cover-up, and to file criminal charges if appropriate against these people.”
“In light of the brand new information I have revealed tonight,” he continued, “my administration is in the process of notifying the states whose election data was compromised by the People’s Republic of China and many others.
“We will be working closely to mitigate any harm, and we’re taking swift action to ensure that sensitive voter data is better protected so we can never be bought, we can never be hacked, and we can never watch a stolen election again.”
The president has long alleged that widespread voting fraud cost him the 2020 election. In his remarks Thursday night, however, Trump did not offer any evidence that the election was stolen or rigged. What he did was force into the record reams of evidence that made this claim credible, and more importantly, drove home the need for serious changes in election infrastructure.
“Tomorrow, the Secretary of Homeland Security will hold a briefing to outline his department’s recent work confirming cyber vulnerabilities in our electronic voting systems,” Trump announced. “We’re in the process of informing governors, senators, and members of Congress of potential issues in their states.”
Voter Registration Fraud in Michigan
Another batch of documents Trump quoted from shines a light on an alleged massive voter registration fraud operation in Muskegon, Michigan—a critical “swing state.” The documents reveal a years-long investigation in 2020 that tracked as many as 10,000 forged voter registration forms submitted in the weeks before the election.
According to an FBI email from the case file, on Oct. 5, 2020, the Muskegon clerk’s office received six hefty packages of voter registration applications via the U.S. Postal Service with thousands of forms inside.
Reviewing the contents, “elections officials determined that some applications were fraudulent based on nonexistent addresses, invalid telephone numbers and signatures on applications not matching Michigan voting or DMV records,” the document states.
Reinforcing suspicions of foul play, the 8,000 to 10,000 application forms “appeared to have all been completed in the same handwriting.”
State Police then raided a Democrat get-out-the-vote organization in Muskegon, and were so concerned by what they found, they contacted the FBI in Detroit who launched an investigation. FBI agents interviewed former employees of the voting organization and uncovered shocking reports of illicit electioneering.
The documents state that some employees “admitted to FBI agents that they signed voter registration forms in other people’s names, submitted fraudulent registration for people who did not exist, and received gift cards in amounts tied to the number of voter applications they produced.”
Employees told the law enforcement officials that “get-out-the-vote” canvassers were instructed, “if they couldn’t get enough voter applications, they should just fill them in themselves.”
“This occurred at a meeting with over 100 employees present,” an email states. One of the employees asked what the company official meant. He picked up a blank application and filled it out, making up information and said, “This is what I mean,” the investigation records claim.
One former employee estimated she submitted 100 fake voter registration applications.
Despite all the evidence of planned and premeditated criminal activity, the DOJ inexplicably shut down the Michigan investigation as it was at its peak.
“Biden’s Justice Department slow-walked the investigation and killed it,” alleged Trump in his address. “Tonight,” he said, “I’m asking the FBI Director to ensure that the matter is fully investigated and to work with the Department of Justice to prosecute those responsible for any crimes.”
Chinese Theft of Election Data: How Sinister is it?
Just the News editor John Solomon, who also serves as a member of the White House Transparency Task Force, pointed out that media pundits who claim China obtained only data that is already online “are pushing an outright lie”.
China’s data breach, he asserted, included personal information that is not available online, such as date of birth and, in some cases, Social Security numbers, voting history, and demographic information.
Combined with data from social media and previous hacks, China, even without the capacity to create false ballots or alter votes, could use this data in nefarious ways, Solomon pointed out.
The Chinese are experts in conducting psychological operations targeting specific voting blocs with tailored propaganda that sounds authentic and American.
Experts in “influence operations” know that rather than trying to persuade millions of voters, an adversary armed with intimate information about the targeted audience could focus on tens of thousands of strategically important individuals.
Some of the released documents Trump quoted from describe typical Chinese influence operations: “The CIA report explicitly stated, and I quote: ‘In mid-2018, the Chinese Communist Party’s policy was to leverage all domestic and foreign U.S. elements that were opposed to the president in an effort to reduce his votes and make him resign or prevent his re-election,’ President Trump noted in his Thursday night address.
“Separately in mid-2019, the Chinese government’s strategy against the United States was focused on undermining domestic confidence in the U.S. president,” he said, quoting the CIA report.
The document described the Chinese strategies of using Chinese contacts with big U.S. companies to influence business leaders to shift their allegiance away from the president of the United States, and to identify U.S. journalists who for large sums of money would write negative articles about Trump.
“But it gets even worse,” Trump said, claiming that raw intelligence obtained by the FBI in 2020, “yet buried by rogue bureaucrats,” stated that China’s activities even included an attempt to manufacture illegal ballots for Joe Biden.
Every American deserves to know that when they cast their vote, that vote will be counted accurately in a system [that is secure],” he said. “Unfortunately, the system we have today falls catastrophically short of that standard.”
Forced to Carry Trump’s Message
Democrats and media rushed to “debunk” or minimize many of Trump’s allegations in his Thursday night remarks. Yet, in the process, in what was almost an amusing consequence of their rebuttals, they had to repeat and even legitimize his key factual disclosures.
For example, the NY Times downplayed the extent of China’s expropriation of American voter data, deceptively framing it as “tens of millions of files” as opposed to the 220 million number the released documents show.
The article also asserted that much of the data was commercially available for purchase.
The authors tried to soften and whitewash China’s motives, describing the regime’s intent as “seeking to influence” (something everyone does), as opposed to aiming for hard-core interference.
In making its case, the article was forced to concede that—precise quantity of data aside—Beijing “bought, stole or hacked” voter data; that there was “intense debate” in the intelligence agencies about warning the president; that he in fact was not warned, and that (at minimum) China used the data for “influence campaigns to shape voters’ perceptions.”
One is reminded of a classic debate tactic: make your opponents repeat and even validate your message while thinking they’re killing it.
The bottom line, of course, is obvious: If China can get its hands on ‘secure’ voter information on almost every American voter and the intelligence agencies are helpless to prevent it, how secure can the system be?
If Trump’s critics admit that the data is being used, in the Times’ words, “to craft influence campaigns to shape voters’ perceptions,” how can they maintain the nation’s elections aren’t vulnerable? The vulnerabilities are built into the networks, leaving an open door to potential manipulation and exploitation on a breathtaking scale.
Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, posted online before the speech that he was briefed ahead of time on its contents and that “this may be the most important Oval Office address since the Cuban Missile Crisis. The time for complacency with China is over.”
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From Emergency to Exploitation
10,315 ballots in Georgia were cast by voters who were dead by Election Day.
Many believe the sweeping relaxation of election safeguards during the pandemic opened the door to fraud and tainted election results across the country.
Although court challenges alleging election fraud did not ultimately prevail, a host of irregularities, broken chains of custody, and problems at too many polling locations fueled lasting doubts among millions of Americans about the legitimacy of the election.
Outcries over a “stolen” election galvanized many state legislatures to pass laws tightening voting laws and election administration. Lawmakers in these states felt that keeping in place the pandemic-era measures would make it easy to exploit loopholes and commit voter fraud.
“Democrats want to force all 50 states to allow the absurd practice of ballot harvesting, where paid operatives can show up at polling places carrying a thick stack of filled-out ballots with other people’s names on them,” then Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said at the time.
“They want to forbid states from implementing voter ID or doing simple things like checking their voter rolls against change-of-address submissions, or removing the names of dead voters. They want to remove nearly every protection on absentee voting, making the practice a permanent norm, even post-pandemic.”
Following the 2020 presidential election, 16 Republican states took proactive measures to ensure greater voter integrity, tightening laws and closing loopholes that made it easy to cheat.
These include laws restructuring voter ID requirements, banning electioneering in front of poll booths; eliminating drop boxes; outlawing ballot trafficking; empowering poll watchers to more effectively do their job; shortening absentee ballot deadlines to 10-11 days before an election and more.
Two examples: Georgia now requires voters who lack driver’s licenses or state ID cards to include in their absentee ballot application a photocopy of another government-issued ID such as a passport.
Previously, absentee voters’ identities were verified by matching signatures. But shocking disclosures at Georgia’s post-election public hearing revealed that a staggering 10,315 ballots appeared to be cast by voters who were dead by Election Day. This and other massive irregularities catalyzed the state legislature to pass the new voter legislation tightening voter ID criteria.
Texas’ law permits voters to use a broader set of IDs than that allowed in some states when applying for and casting mail-in ballots, Texas Tribune reported. But due to recently passed laws, the voter’s ID is rejected if it doesn’t match the ID number the voter provided when initially registering to vote.
Building Support for SAVE ACT
The Trump-backed SAVE ACT would make these and other election security adjustments the law of the land. President Trump used his primetime address Thursday night to rally support for the election security bill that would require voters to present photo ID and proof of U.S. citizenship such as a passport or birth certificate.
The legislation passed the House in February but has been languishing in the Senate.
In addition to requiring proof of citizenship and photo ID, the SAVE ACT requires states to remove non-citizens from their voter rolls and to expand information-sharing with federal agencies to accomplish this objective.
It calls for criminal penalties for knowingly registering someone who fails to present proof of U.S. citizenship to vote in a federal election.
The “in-person” requirement to prove citizenship would also eliminate many popular registration methods, such as registration by mail and “automatic registration,” which grants eligible citizens automatic voting rights unless they decline. The bill would heavily restrict the use of the federal mail-in voter registration form.
Not long ago, during the height of censorship, merely expressing concerns about election security in this country could earn someone denunciation as an “election denier,” an enemy of democracy,” or worse, an “insurrectionist.” Although it was clear that voter integrity had been compromised in many counties and states, saying so could land one in hot water.
The nation has come a long way since then.
President Trump’s address shattered the complacency into which much of the public has been lulled by an establishment slogan insisting the 2020 election and the system in general is beyond reproach.
“If you look at voting today, it’s in such bad shape in so many states, and we are committing to fix it,” the president said. “And we’re also committing to be working with those states and local jurisdictions to help them fix and patch known technical vulnerabilities before the midterm elections. We have very important elections coming up. We want those elections to be honest.”
